Master Class
by silkplants
Summary: Alfred is sure he's going to be the next Pokémon Master, even if he's still too young to get his starter. He meets a young boy at a training park, who has something to teach him even after years of being apart. Pokemon AU, Usuk.
1. Chapter 1

Alfred, at the ripe age of nine, had decided that he was going to be a Pokémon Master, much like every other boy and girl his age. He'd grown up surrounded by the creatures, and had developed a fondness for them. He didn't have any of his own, he wasn't old enough, but his mother ran a gym and had a team of her own. She specialized in psychic types, which was cool and all, but Alfred decided he wouldn't have any, as her Mr. Mime was rather unsettling.

Alfred frequently visited a park near his house, a popular spot for younger children. They were able to train their pokémon without having to leave home. Some parents held their children back a few years for a better education, so the park was a good place to learn, and really bond with their team. Alfred was walking there now, and sped up into a jog as he approached the entrance gate. After taking a breath, He pushed it open, and went inside. Shutting it behind him, he wandered down the thin dirt path, looking from side to side. It wasn't as busy today, with just a few trainers spread out along the fields. One, however, got his attention.

It was a boy he'd never seen before, standing at the top of a hill with just two pokémon beside him, unlike the others that had upwards of four. Most trainers even had a full team of six. He was in shorts and a chunky, heavy sweater. It was green, with an argyle design across it. As Alfred approached, he noticed the boy's shaggy blond hair, and determined green eyes. There was a pokémon beside him, a cute (albeit a bit overweight) Bulbasaur, which was snacking on a small pile of berries he'd probably been rewarded.

As for the other pokémon, it was busy training, and it was an Eevee. Kind of a runt, too, it was definitely smaller than most of it's kind. It had a bag of straw between it's teeth, and it was too big for the creature to move, or even drag. Alfred could hear the trainer shouting encouragement, but in the end the Eevee couldn't move the bag any further.

Neither the trainer nor the pokémon seemed discouraged, though, and the boy called out a new command. The eevee dropped the bag, and scratched at it instead, until it was nearly shredded. It then shook, fluffing out it's fur and running over to the trainer, who beamed, and picked it up while giving praise.

Alfred blinked, and then grinned, waving and as he ran up the hill. "Hey!" He called out in greeting, making the Bulbasaur look up and the trainer jolt a bit.

"Um..hello there," The boy greeted, setting his Eevee down with a delicate hand.

Alfred beamed, rocking back and forth on his heels. He knelt down to pet the Bulbasaur, looking up at the trainer with a sort of awe, and excitement. "Your Eevee was great, and your Bulbasaur looks super strong too! You must be a really, really good trainer, what's your name? How old are you? Are you gonna be a pokémon master?" He rambled, speaking quickly, and the trainer seemed a bit overwhelmed.

"Um, Arthur, and, eleven. I don't know about being a master, I'm only training my pets." The trainer answered, responding to Alfred's questions in order. "Thank you, though. Eevee is small, but that's okay, because we just find new ways to accomplish our goals." He smiled a bit, and Alfred nodded.

"That makes sense! Do you have any other pokémon?" Arthur shook his head, but Alfred wasn't deterred in the least. "Well that's okay! My mom has lots, she's a gym leader, you can come see them sometime if you want to. They're all psy-chic types," Alfred was careful to pronounce the word the right way, as they were his mother's specialty. "She's got lots that are pretty cool, she's got and Espeon and an Alakazam.. I don't like her Mr. Mime though, even if he is friendly." Arthur smiled, and gave a nod, sitting down on the grass next to Alfred. He sat with the other boy for quite a while, petting the pokémon and chatting.

"So! What're you gonna evolve your Eevee into?" Alfred asked, grinning. "I think Jolteon is the coolest! I bet your Eevee would be a great one." He suggested, and Arthur shrugged.

"I don't know yet. I only want Eevee to get stronger right now, we can worry about evolution later." He answered, scratching the pokémon behind the ear. He sat for only a few minutes more, and then looked at the gate, finding a man standing there and waving to him.

"That's my father- I have to go." Arthur put both Bulbasaur and Eevee back in their pokeballs, and ran down the hill, going to the gate and leaving with the man.

Alfred ran into Arthur a few more times after that, but then Arthur stopped coming to the park completely. Alfred wondered if he'd moved away, and assumed that he did, as he never saw him anywhere else either. Arthur never did get to see Alfred's mom's pokémon. The younger boy was upset by this for a while, but, over time, his memory faded from his mind, and by his tenth birthday he hardly ever thought about him.

Alfred raced to the Professor's house, his mother following him to make sure he didn't get into trouble. It would be just like Alfred to flood or burn something the second he got his starter. The second Alfred laid eyes on Charmander, he chose it, much to the worry of his parents. Leave it to their son to pick the most dangerous pokémon out of the three.

Unlike Arthur, who trained near his home, Alfred wanted to begin his pokémon journey right away. He was already eager to collect badges, even if he only had one pokémon. His parents made him stay behind a few years, but when their cheerful, optimistic boy turned fifteen, they let him go. And then, Alfred was all but running down the path, a charmander at his side as he began his journey.


	2. Chapter 2

Alfred was nothing less than a prodigy when it came to training pokémon. Along his journey, he'd developed a fondness for dragon types, and set out to catch them. He collected a Dratini, an Axew, and a Goomy all in his first six months, and within a year, he added Deino, and Bagon. He'd even said goodbye to what was now a Chameleon, and took in a Gible.

With six dragon types, he was pretty strong against almost anything someone challenged him with. Soon, it was easy to win, borderline tiresome. Alfred set his sights on the Elite Four, paving a path for himself by barreling through gyms and trainers. As far as he was concerned he had no rival, because no one was good enough to beat him. The more impressive he got, the more his reputation spread, and soon all of Kanto knew of him and his strength. Alfred was even beginning to get fans that would follow him to his gym battles, sitting in the sidelines as they watched. Half his team was fully evolved now, and half were in the second stages.

He was in Celadon city now, and after receiving his Rainbow Badge, he allowed his fans to come up and speak to to him, standing with his hands in his pockets. Alfred looked around with a confident smirk, answering questions with a sort of drawl.

"Well, y'know, when ya have a great team and an amazing trainer, it's pretty easy to win," He spoke in response to one of his fans. Alfred stood around, and stayed until he got bored. Then, he waved the crowd back. He went towards the door, and then turned as someone touched his arm.

"Alfred-" The stranger began. It was a boy about his age, maybe a little older, with freckles and shaggy blond hair. He had thick brows and bright green eyes, and for a moment he seemed familiar. There was a Bulbasaur at his feet, and he boy held a bag of berries in one hand. Alfred smiled politely, snatching them from him.

"These for me, darlin'?" He asked.

"Wha- no! My Bulbasaur-" He gestured, but Alfred was already walking away.

"You're a peach, really, maybe if you work real hard you'll make that thing something useful." He pointed to the pokémon, and as he walked out of the gym, his fans crowded him, leaving the boy behind. He turned to face the crowd, giving a confident smile.

"Alright, everyone, thanks for comin'! I have to get going, I'll see ya at the next gym- which'll be soon, I'm gonna be the champion before I turn eighteen, I swear it!" He announced, and then went down the path on his own. Once he'd gotten out of town, he let a few of his pokémon out, and tossed them the berries he'd been 'given' as they walked.

Whoever said pride came before the fall was wrong, in Alfred's opinion. Sure, he supposed he could be a little bold, but, you could be bold if you had the skill to back it up. And he did, so there wasn't anything to worry about.

He approached his final gym with a sense of importance, as he was here a whole four months ahead of schedule. At this rate, it'd be easy to become a champion before he turned eighteen, hell, he could get there before he was seventeen and a half.

Walking up the steps to the Viridian Gym, he looked around, brushing his hair out of his eyes with a hum. He opened the door, and looked in, whistling at how empty it was, compared to his past battles, all of which had been filled with his fans.

"Hello..?" Alfred called, and then went inside. The lights came on, revealing different paths that he could take. There was a sparse amount of trainers in position, down each of the paths. He breathed a sigh. "Great. I'm gonna have to battle some of you, aren't I." Alfred drooped his shoulders with an immature pout, and then shrugged. "Whatever.."

Alfred could see the end of the gym from where he was standing, and was eager to face the leader. However, one trainer still stood in his way. A boy his age, with shaggy blond hair and green eyes and- wait. Alfred knew this guy.

"Hey- you're the guy from Celadon! The one with the Bulbasaur!" He exclaimed, crossing his arms. "Are you like, stalking me or something? Seriously, we both know I'm gonna beat you, just let me pass already." Alfred walked forward, and the boy held out his arm, blocking him from going past. "We're battling. Those are the rules. And, and I'm going to teach you a lesson."

The boy's expression sharpened, and he stepped back, getting into a battle stance and sending out an Azurill. He seemed determined, and, for a brief moment, Alfred thought this might actually be an entertaining battle.

But, that's all it was. A brief moment. For all of this boy's talk, his pokémon just weren't on par with Alfred's. He took out his Azurill, his Bulbasaur, and his Eevee all in one shot each, and then collected the prize money from him.

"Now, see? You should have just let me past. Woulda saved you a lot of trouble." He went to ruffle his hair, but the stranger's hand gripped his wrist, stopping him.

"Just...hurry up and leave already." He spoke, voice cracking as he let go of Alfred, looking down at his pokéballs with a worried and vulnerable expression. "It's true. I lost, but..I know everyone gave it their all. I'm leaving now. I want to get them healed." He talked in a hushed, sharp tone, turned away.

And then, he left. The trainer was cradling the pokémon's containers in arms as he hurried out of the gym. Alfred watched, for a moment, and then moved on, making quick work of the Gym Leader and collecting his eighth and final badge. After that, it was off to the Indigo Plateau to take down the Elite Four and the current champion, and take his place as the best trainer in Kanto. And then, it was down the path he went, like he had when he'd left home, with a Garchomp at his side rather than a Charmander.


	3. Chapter 3

Becoming the Champion of the Kanto region proved to be remarkably easy. Alfred's dragons proved to be more than enough to take out the Elite Four, and take them out fast. His predecessor, as far as Champions went, was pretty underwhelming as well. At seventeen years old, he posed for his photo, front and center with his pokémon behind him. The picture had been put up in the hall of Champions. Alfred got letters from his parents, and answered them to be polite, but he never returned home. After all, the attention and fame he got from living at the Indigo Plateau was far more exciting.

Years passed with Alfred as the Champion, and now he was twenty-four and still undefeated. Seven consecutive years of being the best trainer around hadn't weathered him in the slightest. However, the thrill of a good battle had dulled.

He had a number of people working under him now, including the Elite Four. Rather than get the mail himself, his attendant brought it. Said attendant now walked into his personal estate, and handed a letter to him. Alfred exchanged some brief pleasantries with them, and then opened the envelope.

It was a letter from his hometown, requesting that he come back for a visit. The new professor was going to be handing out starters, and as he read, one sentence in particular got Alfred's attention.

'We believe it would be both encouraging and inspiring for the young trainers, seeing as how you've come so far since you lived here.'

Alfred folded the paper, sighing as he tossed it down onto an end table. He'd think about it, but, there was no doubt the kids would want to battle and he didn't want to hurt the starter pokémon. At least, not until the kids had trained them somewhat and made it to the Plateau. But, in the end he decided to go. To turn down kids would be bad for his image, and he hadn't seen his parents in a while anyway. He'd just have to try not to beat the starters up too badly..

Alfred's driver parked his car in front of the Pokemon Lab, which had a crowd of kids going in and out with pokémon. He watched for a moment, switching his sunglasses for his prescription lenses. Once his vision sharpened, he stepped out of his car, going up to the entrance. Kids stepped aside for him, and he ruffled one boy's hair as he pushed the door open.

" 'Lo?" He called out, navigating through the area. It was crowded with stacks of books and equipment, and the room being full of kids didn't help matters. "Champion Alfred Jones, makin' his grand entrance. You ready for me, Professor?" He craned his neck to see into a doorway. The professor's back was turned to him, a familiar tone to his voice as he addressed Alfred.

"Yes, yes, here you are. You're on time, what to do you want, a prize? That's expected of you." The professor turned, thick brows knit in impatience. "You're not here to see me, you're here to talk to the children so get to it."

Just as Alfred was trying to place where he'd heard the man's voice before, a slightly overweight Bulbasaur waddled into the room. There was a roll of papers held in his vine, and Arthur took it, setting it on his desk with a thank you.

"Wait..you look- and your bulbasaur- You're that kid from Celadon! The one who fought me in Viridian! Are you serious, they made you a professor? Can like, anyone become the region professor now?"

The professor bristled. "That's Professor Arthur Kirkland to you. My colleagues sometimes refer to me as Professor Aspen, so you may use that if you feel you must. And as I said before, no matter what our past interaction, you are not here for me. You're here for them." He gestured out a window, where a few first-time trainers were waiting. "Now, go on, would you?" He sighed, rolling his eyes.

"What- no, no, I'm curious now. You were a trainer before, I wanna know what made you do this instead. What do you study anyway? Well, you battled me, so maybe you're studying what makes some trainers better than others."

Arthur scoffed. "I wanted to be a professor from the start. You didn't 'change' anything. At least, not anything you would remember. If you must know, I'm studying type advantages and their reasoning. Some, like water over fire, are obvious. But some aren't quite so clear, for example, dragon types and their weakness to fairies."

"Well, my dragons don't have weaknesses." Alfred retorted, and Arthur chuckled at that.

"You may not like it but they do. No pokémon is invincible."

"Prove it!" Alfred challenged, growing red in the face after being laughed at.

"After you do what you came to do. If you're so intent on battling, you can wait until the evening."

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Fine."

Once the children had left, Alfred dragged Arthur out of a vacant patch of grass, and sent out his Dragonite.

Arthur looked the Dragonite up and down, sizing it up and then picking a pokéball off his belt. He called the Pokemon out, and a smaller-than-average Sylveon sat at his feet.

"You're gonna beat me with that?" Alfred called out, crossing his arms. "Alright, Dragonite, take it out, I don't care what move you use." He waved a hand, sending his pokémon out on the attack. However, when Dragonite was done, Sylveon still stood it's ground, looking more or less fine. It shook his head, and Arthur called out a 'Moonblast', Alfred's Dragonite fainting after one move.

Arthur repeated the process with all of Alfred's pokémon, then picked up Sylveon when the battle ended. He praised him, feeding him a few berries and healing his minor scrapes with a potion.

"What the hell?!" Alfred yelled, putting his fainted Goodra away. "I, you- what did you do! How'd you win, I-" He pulled at his hair, cheeks flushing red at his frustration.

"It's quite simple." Arthur interjected, putting Sylveon away. "You used to have passion, I know that for a fact. But, you've grown bored. Battling is mundane. If you don't really care then neither will your team. Not only that, but you aren't the leader you used to be." He went inside, and Alfred followed, still livid.

"But, you aren't even a trainer, you've still got a Bulbasaur, for God's sake.."

"He doesn't want to evolve. I'm not going to make him." He took Alfred's pokémon from him, getting his medicine out of his cabinet and healing them all.

Alfred stared while he did so, his insults and remarks dying on his lips. "You're helping me?"

"Sort of. I'm..helping an old friend." Arthur shrugged, his Sylveon breaking out of his pokéball and rubbing against his leg.

Alfred looked down at it, a flash of realization in his expression. "You're..the kid from the park. From when I was nine." He looked up, the professor nodding slowly.

"...God, I'm a dick, aren't I." Alfred said after a moment, Arthur giving a soft chuckle.

"Well, you weren't always that way. You used to be quite sweet."

"Still, I, I really looked up to you, and, you were my friend and I forgot all about you." He looked down, beginning to feel embarrassment and shame for the first time in what seemed like forever. "I was your friend."

"You were." Arthur quipped, not even attempting to sugarcoat his lecture. "And now you're quite awful. You still are, unless you make an attempt to change."

There were a few moments of tense silence, and then Alfred breathed a sigh. "Can I..come back here? Like, to visit sometime?"

Arthur handed his pokémon back to him, giving a soft nod. "I think I'd like the chance to make things right. I considered you my best friend, you know."

"Yeah..we'll make things right. Or, I will, since it's my fault in the first place." Alfred gave a nervous laugh, and exchanged goodbyes, still a bit cautious as he talked to him. He went down the path without any pokémon at his side, hands in his pockets. He looked over his shoulder at the lab, giving a slight wave.

Arthur watched from the window, a smile quirking the edges of his lips as Alfred waved. He waved back, giving a content sigh. After years of trying to prove himself, he'd gotten his best friend back at last.


End file.
